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David Spiegel
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Does hypnosis help solve crimes? | In the Dark - APM Reports apmreports.org Sep 20, 2016 11 facts
perspectiveDr. David Spiegel argued that forensic hypnosis was problematic because it often served as a shortcut for police work, allowing investigators to obtain a desired story rather than digging for evidence.
quoteDr. David Spiegel stated: "What I'm sure about is that it's no more dangerous as a memory contaminant than a lot of other things that we routinely do. Clearly, if a witness or victim is hypnotized, the court should know it, and there should be controls over how it's done. Can you make a sort of honest liar out of someone who was hypnotized? Maybe. But, you can in other ways, too."
perspectiveSpiegel, an expert who has assisted in 30 to 40 criminal cases, argues that the backlash against the use of hypnosis in investigations has gone too far and that police, judges, and juries are missing out on potentially useful information.
perspectiveDr. David Spiegel argued that hypnosis is no more dangerous as a memory contaminant than other routine police procedures, such as viewing photo lineups or returning to a crime scene.
procedureTo mitigate the risk of corrupting a person's memory during hypnosis, Spiegel recommends that the process be conducted in a neutral setting by a licensed psychiatrist or psychologist.
claimSpiegel defines hypnosis as a form of highly-focused attention, comparing it to looking through a telephoto lens where the subject sees great detail but is less aware of the surrounding context.
quoteDr. David Spiegel stated: "The problem was also that it was shortcutting good police work. Why bother digging for evidence when you can just hypnotize the guy and get the story you want?"
referenceDr. David Spiegel and his father, Herbert Spiegel, co-wrote the book 'Trance and Treatment: Clinical Uses of Hypnosis' in 1978.
claimDr. David Spiegel, associate chairman of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, stated that court decisions restricting forensic hypnosis had a chilling effect, making the practice rare today compared to its common use during the time of the Jacob Wetterling case.
measurementSpiegel reports that in his experience, new information emerges in approximately one out of every three legal cases where he uses hypnosis.
claimDr. David Spiegel stated that human memories are 'reconstructive' and influenced by 'context and expectation' rather than functioning like video recordings.